Disney Hotstar India chief Sajith Sivanandan has stepped down from his position following the $8.5 billion (around ₹70,500 crore) merger of Disney with Reliance’s Indian media assets.
What Happened: Sivanandan’s resignation comes in the wake of the ongoing business integration process amid the merger, Reuters reported. The first significant move in this integration was the decision to stream all live sports events, including the Indian Premier League (IPL), on Disney’s Hotstar app, thereby sidelining Reliance’s JioCinema.
The future of JioCinema as a separate app is still under consideration by the leadership, two sources told the news agency. Post-merger, Disney and Reliance will jointly operate over 100 TV channels and two streaming apps, thus competing with major players like Sony, Netflix and Amazon Prime.
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Sivanandan, who has a 15-year stint with Google under his belt, led Hotstar for over two years. Kiran Mani, another former Google executive, currently heads JioCinema. He has been associated with Reliance’s media unit for about a year. Both Disney and Reliance have not yet responded to Reuters’ queries regarding Sivanandan’s resignation.
The Competition Commission of India approved the Reliance Disney merger in August. Recently a Delhi-based application developer bought the domain "jiohotstar.com" and put it for sale in the hope that Reliance Industries would fund their higher education.
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